


A Walking Shadow

by fob_lvr8, StraightAsARainbow



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Changed Events, Lots of Angst, M/M, Some Fluff, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:37:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6115294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fob_lvr8/pseuds/fob_lvr8, https://archiveofourown.org/users/StraightAsARainbow/pseuds/StraightAsARainbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a (very) angsty sort of retelling of the final battle of Blood of Olympus, that focuses mostly on Nico di Angelo and Will Solace. Note: includes changed events.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Will

**Author's Note:**

> As mentioned in the summary, this fic works on a few key presumptions that differ from the original HoO books, and that you will have to keep in mind while reading. First, the idea is that Reyna and Nico made it back to Camp Half-Blood with the Athena Parthenos about a week before the final battle. Second, the Caleo bit never happened, and the 7 never got the physician’s cure. Third, both Nico and Will are a bit older than their actual book ages, and have been dating for about a year. And finally, Gaea saved an (even larger) army of her minions to attack Camp Half-Blood (along with herself) in the final battle.
> 
> Also, I will warn you this is VERY angsty, and I would recommend reading it sometime when you're alone and/or can cry openly. If you're reeaally into self-torture you could listen to Regina Spektor's Blue Lips while you read it, too. Also my brother (StraightAsARainbow) was the one who came up with the idea for this fic and much of the specifics, so please blame him for all of the sadness. :) Enjoy!

Will put the last of his supplies into the big red bag at his feet and stood up to leave the emergency medical station. The whole camp had been preparing scrupulously for the impending battle for the last week; ever since Will’s boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, and Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, the Praetor of Camp Jupiter, had returned with the gigantic Athena Parthenos statue, the whole camp had gone into overdrive to get ready for the final battle against Gaea and her minions.

As head medic and head counselor for the Apollo cabin, Will had been in charge of setting up the emergency medical station, which would house any injured campers after the fighting broke out, and allow the healers of Apollo to attend to them. No one was exactly sure when the fighting would actually happen, but everyone seemed to be feeling that it would be very soon. The emergency medical station was now completely stocked with cots and various surgical instruments, and it stood ready to receive campers, come battle time. 

Will looked at the big tent with a mixture of pride and anxiety; it had all come together really well, and in a fairly short amount of time, but he couldn’t help resenting the fact that they’d needed to set it up in the first place. He tried not to think about who may or may not be in that tent, lying injured or dying, come the battle. Will loved his job as head medic normally, but the thought of desperately trying to save the dying faces of his family at Camp Half-Blood made him sick to his stomach. He wished, for the millionth time, that there was some way they could just skip this battle. He knew almost every kid at the camp personally, and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle losing any one of them. Silently, he cursed Gaea and her stupid plot to destroy the camp, also for the millionth time. 

Will was especially worried about his boyfriend, Nico. His attitude about this whole thing had not really been very reassuring for Will. Ever since he had gotten back from bringing the statue that the crew on the Argo II had recovered in Italy, he had been so obsessed with honing his fighting techniques, that he spent little time outside of the sword practice arena, or the woods, where he could practice summoning skeletons. 

As a son of Hades, Nico could raise the dead to his bidding in battle. Will often had mixed feelings about that particular power. On one hand, the skeletons did come in handy if Nico was facing too many monsters to fight off on his own, but on the other, using his underworld magic often drained him and left him unable to fend for himself very well. Will felt that that made Nico a little vulnerable. Still, Will knew that Nico was excellent with his Stygian iron sword, and he could usually hold his own pretty well. Will figured he was just being paranoid because he loved Nico so much. 

The two of them had been an item for about a year now, and it had been some of the best time of Will’s life. Nico was a fairly shy person, and it had taken them a while to work up to any kind of physical affection, but when they did, it was some of the most magical times Will had ever experienced. He recalled their first kiss, and he smiled slightly to himself. It had happened one night, many months ago now, when nearly the whole camp had been sitting around the camp fire, laughing and joking, or roasting marshmallows over the coals. He and Nico were already dating, but they hadn’t gotten past the hand-holding stage yet. Will had been wanting to kiss him for a while, but he wasn’t sure Nico was ready for it. He also hadn’t had much chance before then, either. At the fire, Nico sat with his head on Will’s shoulder and their hands lay clasped together on the older boy’s knee. They had simply sat there for a while, listening to some of the other campers sing campfire songs, and Will absent-mindedly drew little circles on the back of Nico’s hand with his thumb. 

Finally, after the songs had ended and the atmosphere of the gathering was starting to get altogether more rowdy (thanks Percy and Jason), Leo, the scrawny, impish son of Hephaestus, had seemed to notice that Nico and Will were sitting awfully close together. He waggled his eyebrows at the two them with a mischievous look gleaming in his dark eyes, making Nico sit up and causing his cheeks to flush a bright red. Will sighed. Leave it to Valdez to make things awkward. Nico still held his hand, but the tension in the boy’s spine made it look like he had been duct taped to a yard stick. Leo mouthed something that looked like _Are you two ready?_ Then, before either of them could say anything, he suddenly shouted to the group at large, “HEY, who’s ready to see Will and Nico kiss already?” 

Every head turned in their direction. The only noise was the crackling of the fire and the sound of the wind in the trees. Will didn’t think it could have been possible, but Nico’s cheeks flushed even brighter. He thought he felt his own heating up too. _I will kill you, Valdez_ , Will thought. 

Then Percy joined in. 

“Yeah, come on, you guys have been together for what, 2 months, 3 months? I think it’s about time you show some effort!” he yelled. 

“Percy!” Annabeth cried indignantly. At least she was on their side. 

Percy, however, just ignored her. He looked at Leo. Identical maniacal grins were plastered on their faces. 

“Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him!” they chanted in unison, waving their hands like orchestra conductors. 

_Really?_ Will wondered, were they actual children? 

Unfortunately, almost everyone else seemed to have the same idea as Percy and Leo. Before long, more than half the camp was shouting the chant. Will was sure now that his cheeks were burning as badly as Nico’s. He looked over at the boy. He had an odd, defiant expression coloring his attractive features. Will barely had time to wonder about it before suddenly, Nico’s hand shot out and caught Will around the back of the neck and he felt the boy’s lips smashing into his own. Once he got over the shock of it, he lost himself in the feeling of Nico’s lips. He pushed his hand gently into the boy’s hair and kissed him back. He barely registered the delighted shouts and jeers of the crowd around them. 

After a few moments, the two broke apart. Will was grinning like a fool, and Nico’s cheeks were still bright red. As much as he hated to admit it, Leo and Percy had sort of done him a favor; at least now the awkwardness of their first kiss was behind them. He could kiss Nico just about any time he wanted after that. That didn’t stop Will from wanting to throttle the other two demigods though. 

Back in the present, Will decided it was probably time he check on Nico. He hadn’t seen the boy since earlier that morning, and he was afraid the kid was slashing and jabbing himself to death, or worse, collapsing in the woods alone from summoning too many skeletons. Plus, Will figured, with the medical tent fully set up now, there wasn’t a whole lot else for him to do anyway. 

On a whim, Will decided to check the sword fighting arena first. He made his way carefully over to it and poked his head inside, looking around. Sure enough, there was Nico; his bare pale chest shining with sweat, and his sword a dark blur in his hand as he slashed at dummy after dummy. Will leaned against the door frame. Seeing Nico without his shirt on had momentarily made him forget why he was there. He had a sudden desire to walk over and wrap Nico up in his arms, feeling his cool skin and kissing his soft lips. Then he remembered the actual reason he was here, and the uneasiness that had been slowing growing into a knot in his chest for the last few days throbbed somewhat painfully. “Easy there killer. What did those dummies ever do to you?” he asked Nico, straining slightly to keep his voice light. 

Nico, who hadn’t seen Will approach, suddenly halted mid-slash, and then dropped his arm. As he turned to face Will, a grin lit up his features. Seeing Nico smile was by far one of Will’s favorite things in the world. He didn’t do it very often for anyone else, but around Will, Nico always seemed so much happier. Will tried to return the smile, but he was afraid his trepidation made into more of a grimace. 

“Hey, I just want to make sure I’m ready to kick some serious monster ass, come battle time. Can’t do that without some practice, right?” Nico said easily. 

He walked over to Will and stretched up on his tiptoes to kiss him lightly. He smelled like sweat, and little bit of his pleasant, woodsy deodorant. 

“I think you’ve done plenty of that already,” Will said, once they had broken apart. “I don’t think those dummies could take any more of your ‘practicing.’” 

Looking at Nico’s deep brown eyes was making the knot in his chest throb even more. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something very bad was going to happen very soon. Nico just rolled his eyes. 

“Oh whatever, Solace. When that battle starts I’ll be the one out there making all the monsters run for their mommies. They won’t even know what hit them,” he said. 

Will didn’t doubt it. As much as he hated to admit it, Nico was one of the camp’s biggest assets when it came to fighting. Between his sword fighting skills and his death magic, he would likely be one the camps best defenders. That didn’t stop Will from wanting to kidnap and lock him in a safe place for the entirety of the battle, though. He tried to smile again at Nico, but it still didn’t touch his eyes. 

“I believe you,” he said. “But please, please, for the love of all the gods on Olympus, be careful out there,” he said. 

He tried to make his expression as pleading as possible, which wasn’t exactly difficult, given his feelings at the moment. Nico looked up at him with both endearment and slight exasperation. 

Before the boy said anything, Will added softly, “I just can’t lose you.” He tried not to let his voice break. 

The corners of his eyes were prickling slightly, like he might start crying soon. The thought of losing Nico… No, he couldn’t think about it. He had to believe that everything would be ok. 

“I’ll be fine, Will,” Nico said. 

Will was half-surprised he hadn’t rolled his eyes, but Nico’s joking manner seemed to be gone. He usually didn’t ever call Will by his first name unless he was being serious. Will felt that the boy was probably able sense some of his apprehension. 

“Promise me,” Will insisted. 

“I promise,” Nico said seriously. “But you promise me, too,” he added, putting his hand gently on Will’s cheek. His skin was pleasantly cool, like always. 

“I can’t have you dying on me, especially when half the camp’s going to need you to heal them, I’m sure.” A small smile spread across his lips for a second, but his eyes still conveyed their solemnity. 

“I promise,” Will said. He wasn’t worried so much about himself. He would likely be in the medical tent most of time, anyway. He didn’t feel he was facing the same kind of immediate danger that Nico was. 

“Good,” Nico said and he stretched up to kiss Will again. 

They embraced, and Will poured all of his love into the kiss. This boy meant the world to him. He wasn’t sure he would make it if anything happened to him. He let himself get lost in the feeling of kissing Nico, which was surprisingly easy, considering how worried he was. He held the boy’s face in his hands and he felt Nico’s arms around his waist. After a few more minutes, Nico pulled back a little. 

“How about you let me get cleaned up and then we can go down by the lake?” he asked. 

“Ok,” Will said, not really wanting to let him go. 

A little reluctantly, he dropped his arms and watched Nico walk over and collect his sword, then pull his shirt back over his head. Will was just about to turn and leave, but something made him hesitate. 

“Nico?” he said tentatively. 

“Yeah?” the boy said, arching one of his dark eyebrows. 

“I love you.” 

Nico smiled his rare, beautiful smile that always made Will’s heart soar. “I love you, too Will,” he said. 

With that, the older boy took his leave, and headed out toward his cabin.


	2. Nico

Nico had just pulled on his shorts and T-shirt that he always slept in when he heard a knock at the door. He figured he already knew who it was; he and Will had only just parted ways about an hour ago, and the boy was due to show up again any time now.

After Nico had showered and changed from his practice clothes, he had met back up with Will, and the two of them had spent the better part of three hours hanging out by the canoe lake. It had been a very nice evening, and Nico was glad he had gotten to spend the time with Will. He had been so busy lately, trying to prepare himself for the battle that he hadn’t really gotten to see his boyfriend very much. To be fair, Will had been pretty busy himself too, though. His head medic status often required him to be in the infirmary for many long hours at a time. Then of course, his supervising the setup of the med tent for the past week had only increased the amount of time they were forced to spend apart. 

For his part, Nico felt good about his private sword training. He could tell he was getting better, and it helped ease some of his anxiety about the battle. No matter what he told Will, he too, was feeling a bit apprehensive about the upcoming fight. He tried to chalk it up just pre-battle nerves, though, and he didn’t let himself think too much of it. He had been nervous before plenty of battles previously, and all of those had turned out ok. He had tried to tell Will this, when the boy had expressed his growing disquiet, but it didn’t seem to do much good. The look of worry stayed firmly planted in Will’s ice-blue eyes. That didn’t particularly help Nico’s own feelings. The son of Apollo was normally so happy-go-lucky all the time, it was off-putting to see him so serious and concerned. 

Nico shook off his thoughts and padded over to the door to let Will in. They had been doing this for a while now. Will would sneak out of his cabin when everyone else was asleep, and come to sleep with Nico in his. Technically, they weren’t breaking any rules by doing this, since the rule clearly stated that no boy and girl could be in a cabin alone together, but he and Will were always careful about it just in case. Something told Nico that Chiron, the activities director, wouldn’t be very approving of Nico’s boyfriend staying the night with him, regardless of their being the same gender. 

Tonight, Will was wearing his orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and a pair of loose denim jeans that hung low on his hips in a very appealing way. His curly blond hair almost glowed in the moonlight. He ducked into Nico’s cabin quickly, as soon as the boy had opened the door, and Nico hastened to close it after him. 

The patrol harpies often prowled the camp just after curfew, looking for stray campers to eat. Once he was safely inside, Nico kissed Will lightly on the lips, and then took his hand as they sat down on the bed. It was pretty late, and Nico was feeling drained from his practice earlier. Will’s blue eyes were super-focused on Nico, like he was trying to commit every tiny detail about him to memory. The uneasiness radiating from him was almost tangible. Nico loved the boy to death, but really, all of this tension was starting to unnerve him. 

“Relax, Solace,” he said, teasing, “If you were any stiffer I’d be afraid Medusa got to you.” 

Will smiled a little at that. “Sorry,” he said, and then he sighed. “I’m just… still worried, I guess.” 

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Nico said, trying to coax some confidence into his voice. He wasn’t used to being the one to reassure Will. Usually it was the other way around. 

“If you say so,” Will said. Then he stretched out and tucked himself under the covers. Nico laid back too, rolling to his side and propping himself on his elbow to look at Will. He brushed a stray blond curl out of the boy’s face with his fingers. 

“Come on we should try to sleep,” Will said softly. “I have a feeling we’re going to need it.” 

Nico just nodded and positioned himself carefully on Will’s chest. He let his fatigue wash over him, and he drifted quickly toward rest. He felt Will kiss his hair gently, and then he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

—————————— 

The next morning, Nico awoke to a beam of sunlight streaming in through the window. Will was already up and getting dressed. His look of grave worry from the day before was still etched into his handsome features. Nico wasn’t really ready to get up yet. He hated mornings, and the sunlight on his face wasn’t making him any less grumpy. He groaned and rolled onto his other side, trying to block out the light.

“Hey sleepyhead,” Will said gently, putting his warm hand on Nico’s shoulder. “Time to get up.” 

Nico just groaned again. If he didn’t love Will so much he might have had the nerve to summon some skeletons to chase the boy off. Nico smiled a little to himself, remembering the handful of times he had done just that. Will hated it, he knew, but he always took it in stride. He of all people understood how much Nico wasn’t a morning person. 

Now, Nico was worried chasing Will off via skeletons would just be adding insult to injury. The disquiet in his voice as he tried to coax Nico out of bed was alarmingly apparent. Nico laid there for a few more moments, still half asleep, listening to Will’s soft voice. 

Then, suddenly, the boy’s hand paused on his shoulder. He seemed to be listening to something that was happening outside. Then he started nudging Nico a little harder. His tone took on a sort of urgency, then, as he said, “Nico, you need to get up. Something’s coming. I can feel it.” 

He removed his hand Nico’s shoulder. It was the absence of his warmth, more than anything, that seemed to shake Nico out of his stupor. 

Nico sat up. He tuned in to his senses and indeed, realized something didn’t feel quite right. A sort of nervous excitement washed over him, and he shot out of bed and hurriedly changed his clothes. Will was already dressed, looking much like a grim, tan, blond angel in the soft light of the cabin. 

When their eyes met, a silent agreement passed between them; it’s time. They didn’t say much to each other as they quickly left the Hades cabin. Automatically, they both headed straight toward the armory. The rest of the camp had seemed to sense the proximity of the impending battle too; not one person seemed to notice that Nico and Will had just left from the same cabin. Instead, they were all running about somewhat haphazardly, trying to strap on loose pieces of armor, or grabbing spears from a nearby pile. 

As soon as Nico and Will reached the armory, both boys quickly fitted themselves with celestial bronze breastplates and shining, plumed war helmets. Will grabbed his bow and slung a quiver of arrows across his muscular back, and Nico sheathed his Stygian Iron sword at his waist. Many other campers were already wearing their armor, and they looked ready to begin the fight. Nico saw the whole of the Apollo cabin, minus Will of course, lined up not too far away, with bows in hand and faces set in determined expressions. 

A sudden commotion off to Nico’s right caught his attention. The camp protectors Coach Hedge and Grover Underwood seemed to be trying to lead a small group of very young satyrs toward the Big House. One of the young ones, probably no more than 7 or 8 by human standards Nico guessed, seemed to be arguing with Coach Hedge. 

“Come on, let us go, we’re old enough to fight!” the young satyr was saying. A few of the others around him had looks on their faces that said clearly they didn’t agree. 

“Oh, no you don’t cupcake. You and the rest of these youngins are going to the basement of the big house, and you will STAY there. I won’t have any of you get hurt in this here war,” Coach Hedge said sternly. 

“But that’s not fair! This is our home too, and I want to help protect it!” 

“Well that’s just tough! You are too young, and you’d likely just get yourself killed,” Coach Hedge said. Then he added, “And a fat lot of help that would be for the camp.” He turned resolutely toward the Big House. The kid looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but Coach Hedge’s demeanor obviously told him the conversation was over. Nico personally agreed with Coach Hedge; the kid was way too young to be fighting against a primordial goddess and her army of minions. He would be much safer in the Big House. 

As they bustled off, Nico turned his gaze to the rest of the camp. A few yards away from them, the Hunters of Artemis, who had arrived at the camp just a few days after Reyna and Nico, were standing in a strict formation. Their lieutenant, Thalia Grace, was shouting orders at them. They too, had their bows in their hands and quivers of arrows strapped to their backs. 

A few feet from them, Nico saw Chiron herding stray campers toward the armory, and trying to organize everyone. He seemed to be putting together a group to get ready to march up Half-Blood Hill towards the pine tree that used to be Thalia. Nico was about to turn and join the group, eager to get to the front lines, when he felt Will’s warm hand touch his arm. 

He turned to see the son of Apollo with a grim, but determined look on his face. 

“Whatever happens out there,” he said to Nico, “just know that I love you.” 

Nico winced slightly. Will’s words were a painful reminder that it was entirely possible for any one of the people around him to not make it out of this battle alive. He made himself smile at his boyfriend. 

“It’ll be fine, Will,” he said. “But I love you, too.” 

They kissed quickly, but didn’t linger. Both of them knew this wasn’t the time for lengthy affections. 

Just then, a crack like a cannon blast split the air as a huge explosion shook the valley. The group Chiron was leading took off at a sprint towards the pine tree. Nico squeezed Will’s hand briefly, in a reassuring kind of way, and then turned and took off after the group. He wondered somewhere in the back of his mind what the explosion had been, and then he worried that something might have happened to his friends on the Argo II. The defenses of Camp Half-Blood were not nearly as strong without the seven most powerful demigods of the century. They had been away, half-way across the world, fighting the giants working for Gaea who were trying to destroy the birthplace of the gods. If they didn’t make it back in time to face Gaea… 

_No_ , Nico thought shaking his head, _they’ll make it back. Everything will be fine_. He didn’t have very much more time to worry about it though, because just then, he reached the crest of the hill, and the sight of burning wreckage raining down on Gaea’s huge, menacing army of monsters met his eyes.


	3. Nico

Nico didn’t think as he slashed and stabbed at monster after monster with his dark sword. He let his instincts take over, and he moved like a dark shadow, stabbing and parrying wherever he could. When he had a free moment, he would summon another legion of undead to join the fray alongside him. He didn’t really have time to watch what they did, though. More enemies kept swarming him the moment he got done summoning the skeletons. The adrenaline coursing through his body helped him keep his strength, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. All around him, fellow campers jabbed at monsters with swords and spears, or shot arrows into the chinks of their armor.

It seemed that Gaea had saved her worst and most terrifying monsters for this battle, save the giants of course. Nico was privately grateful that they, at least, weren’t a part of this attack. The defenders of Camp Half-Blood were occupied enough with the vast army of Earthborn, Cyclops, Karpoi (grain spirits), wolf men, wild centaurs, and much more. Gaea herself was notably absent at the moment, however, and it wasn’t helping Nico’s anxiety. _Where was she?_

Off to his right, Nico heard Percy shouting a war cry, and he was happy to know that he, at least, had made it back ok. It seemed that the explosion had turned out to be the hull of the Argo II, hurtling through the sky at about 200 miles per hour and completely engulfed in flames. It had exploded nearly as soon as it had reached the boundaries of the camp, and just in the nick of time too. Nico wasn’t sure exactly what had signaled them, since Gaea still hadn’t appeared, but the army of monsters didn’t seem to be bothered one bit by the fact that their commander-in-chief was currently MIA. They were attacking demigods right and left with no problem. 

Then, as Nico continued to hack at various exposed monster parts, the ground began rippling like waves on the sea. Up on the next hill over, the very grass and dirt had seemed to be swirling upwards like a reverse tornado. Nico struggled to keep his balance, and to keep from sinking into the now nearly fluid ground. 

Eventually, the swirling earth on the hill solidified into a figure that was about twenty feet tall, with robes that seemed to be woven straight from the trees and grass themselves. Her voice shook the entire valley when she spoke, resonating through Nico’s skull and making his teeth rattle. He couldn’t help himself; he stared in complete awe as she rose, momentarily forgetting the enemies surrounding him, and cold chills of dread shooting up his spine. He felt like his limbs were made of rubber, and his insides writhed like live worms. Slowly, he pulled himself out of his terror. He had to keep fighting. They had to win this. He heard Percy shout again, and the sound helped to break him out of shock. He raised his sword and charged toward the nearest monster. 

As he fought, Nico thought about his friends. In the past few years, Percy had become like a brother to Nico. He had had a crush on the son of Poseidon for a while after he first met him, but all that changed when Nico met Will. He supposed he had known all along, somewhere deep down, that his feelings for Percy stemmed more from admiration than actual romantic attraction. He was cute and all, but Percy just wasn’t Nico’s type. He had told Percy that, not long before he and Will started dating, and at first, Nico was a little afraid it had ruined the friendship between them. But Percy had eventually gotten over it after a while, and they eventually developed a comradery as close as any siblings. 

In fact, Nico felt that way about pretty much everyone from the Argo II. He loved Annabeth and Piper like sisters, and then of course there was Hazel, who actually was his sister. Sort of. She was a child of Pluto, Hades’ Roman aspect, which meant she and Nico were technically half-siblings. It had been Nico, too, who had brought Hazel back from the Underworld, just before the start of the whole Gaea mess. That fact had really solidified the bond between the two of them. 

Then there was Jason. The son of Jupiter had been the first person to know about Nico’s sexual orientation, as he had been there when Cupid had forced the secret out of him. Nico had expected Jason to reject and humiliate him as soon as he got the chance, but he didn’t. The boy had been nothing but friendly and supportive of Nico, and once Nico got around to accepting himself a little more, he was immensely grateful. Jason had never once outed Nico before he was ready, or teased him for his feelings. He would listen, and give him advice if Nico asked, but he never made a big deal out of any of it. Jason was as good as a brother too, in Nico’s mind. 

As for Leo Valdez, Nico had, grudgingly, grown to like the kid too. It had taken him a while, as Leo’s tendency toward sarcasm and inappropriate jokes generally annoyed Nico, but in the end, Leo had been just as friendly to him as anyone else. He was there when it really counted, and Nico couldn’t help but become friends with him too. Likewise, Frank, Hazel’s Roman, Chinese Canadian boyfriend, was much the same. He had always been friendly to Nico, if slightly distant, but he was so good to Hazel, Nico couldn’t help but like the guy. He also knew that Frank would give his life to save any one of his friends, including Nico, and he deeply respected him for that. 

Then of course, there was Reyna. The Roman Praetor hadn’t really been a part of the Argo II’s expedition, much like himself, but she had played a very important role nonetheless. She and Nico had embarked on a journey to bring the Athena Parthenos, which Annabeth had recovered from Arachne’s layer in Rome, back to Camp Half-Blood to heal the rift between the Greek and Roman demigods. The two of them had fought side by side against a multitude of monsters over the course of the journey, and they had shared things about themselves with each other that had really brought them together. To him, Reyna was as much his sister as Bianca had been, and he would willingly give his life for her, without even questioning it. In his heart, he knew she would do the same, too. 

Back in the present, Reyna was currently directing the entirety of the Roman legion (minus Octavian, who had been all but thrown out of the camp when she and Nico came back with the Athena Parthenos) on the other side of the battle. The praetor looked fierce and confident brandishing her _pilum_ and dressed in her full Roman armor, and she seemed to be lending her strength, like she had done for Nico many times, to her army. 

Since her and Nico’s return, the Romans had become like an extended family for the demigods of Camp Half-Blood. Most of them (again excluding Octavian) had agreed to stay and fight when the battle came. They were certainly keeping good on their promise, now. Nico watched for just a second as a few of them took down one of the bigger Cyclops in just a few minutes. He couldn’t watch for long, though, as just then, one of the six-armed Earthborn lumbered after him, trying and failing, to lock him in a vice-like grip, and presumably squeeze the life out him. 

Nico dashed just to the side of him, and slashed at the monster’s neck with his sword. The Earthborn crumpled into a pile of stinking fresh earth, and Nico moved on quickly. He parried against the spear of a wild centaur, and butted him hard between the eyes with the hilt of his sword, sending the horse-man sprawling into the ground. Nico quickly stabbed him in chest, and he dissolved into dust at Nico’s feet. Then, Nico heard what sounded like one of the Stoll brothers shrieking with panic off to his left, and he summoned another couple of skeletons from the ground as he ran toward the camper.


	4. Will

Will heard Percy’s jeering war cry just as his arrow pierced the neck of a very shocked looking Karpoi. The grain spirit dissolved into a pile of wheat, and Will turned his eyes toward the wreckage of the Argo II. He saw Percy and Annabeth some distance away, rallying the Greek demigods and charging at monsters without hesitation. A little away from them, Jason was giving one of the wolf men a run for his money, while Piper fought nearby, using her charmspeak to confuse the monsters whenever she could. Hazel was already astride her horse, Arion, and was ruthlessly taking out monsters left and right with her _spatha_. Frank, along with Reyna, was leading the whole of the Roman legion, shouting orders in Latin and hefting his _pilum_. Will privately admired Frank’s form. The guy was taking out monsters like he did it for a living. Will didn’t focus on him for too long, though. He had his hands full quite enough himself.

Just then, Will nearly lost his balance as he realized the ground was moving under him like a water bed. _Gaea_ , he thought grimly. He had been wondering why she hadn’t show up yet, what with her huge monster army already initiating the attack. Sure enough, a gigantic swirling storm of earth was rising up on the next hill over, steadily solidifying into the massive form of a 20-foot-tall woman. 

Will barely had time to be properly horrified before another Karpoi had come up and nearly snatched him up. He drew his knife and dispatched the monster quickly. Then, he pulled his bow back into position and began firing arrows in quick succession at the nearby monsters, trying to keep his focus despite the utter terror he felt at the rising enemy goddess. Will’s aim was excellent from all the time he had trained at Camp Half-Blood, and he picked the monsters off steadily. 

Just then, Will heard Austin, a fellow Apollo camper and medic, shout his name. He looked over and saw him frantically trying to drag a wounded camper toward the medical tent and shouting for Will to help him. Will shot one more arrow, and a nearby cynocephali, a two-headed man, burst into dust. Then, he shouldered his bow and turned to run over to where Austin was. Will recognized the injured kid as one of the Aphrodite boys, and he hurriedly thrust his arms under the boy’s while Austin grabbed his legs. The boy had half of a spear sticking out of his thigh, and blood was coursing steadily from the wound. His face was very pale, and he looked only half-conscious. 

“I have no idea how long he’s been lying there,” Austin said. 

He looked a little pale himself, but he seemed steady enough. Apollo kids were usually pretty strong in that regard, seeing as most of them became medics eventually. 

“It’s ok, just help me get him to the tent. We can go over it more once he’s safe,” Will said. 

The kid groaned unintelligibly, just as Austin and Will crossed the boundary line. They quickly entered the medical station and deposited the boy into an empty cot. There weren’t many people in the medical tent yet, and Will took that as a good sign. The knot of anxiety he had been carrying around in his chest still hadn’t lessened yet, though. He still had a weird feeling something very bad was going to happen. He tried not to think about it as he attended to the boy. 

Between him and Austin, they got the spear out of guy’s leg without too much complication. Will deftly cleaned the wound and then tied a tourniquet tightly around it to stop the bleeding. He concentrated his healing power over the wound, as Austin hurriedly helped the kid sip some nectar. His color was starting to come back, slowly. Once Will got him stabilized, he left Austin to look after him, and then headed back out toward the battle. He scanned the grounds for other injured campers, but he didn’t see any just yet, so he gripped his bow and nocked an arrow, ready to fire on more unsuspecting monsters. 

Then, a black blur caught his eye from a fair distance away, and he realized with a jolt that it was Nico, fighting like he was made of pure shadow and absolutely incinerating every monster in his path. A surge of pride washed over Will as he watched. It seemed that Nico’s obsessive practice sessions were actually coming in handy. He fought like a maniac, and it seemed the monsters didn’t even stand a chance. Will smiled to himself, and he readied his bow again, heading toward the action.


	5. Percy

Percy stared for a minute, somewhat dejectedly, as Jason carefully wrapped his arms around Piper and shot into the air. Leo, with the help of a newly (and shockingly) restored Festus, already had Gaea locked in an iron grip and was ascending high into the sky, as far from the earth as possible. Deep down, Percy knew Jason and Frank were right. This was their only hope.

They had to get Gaea away from her source of power if they wanted to truly defeat her, and the prophecy did say ‘ _to storm or fire the world must fall_ ’, which didn’t really seem to indicate a son of Poseidon doing the job. Still, he hated it that he wasn’t going to be one of the ones up there fighting her directly. She had done much to wreck his life, and he wished he could make her pay, personally. Why couldn’t the prophecy have said something like ‘ _to giant tidal waves and salt water the evil dirt queen will fall_ ’? That would have been more his style. 

Just then he heard Annabeth shout, “Hey, some help over here, maybe?” and he shook himself out of musings. They would have a big enough job down here on the ground anyway, he decided, looking around the battlefield. And really, he did hate being the air. 

Percy turned and charged toward the gaggle of monsters surrounding Annabeth and some of the other Greek demigods. He hacked at karpoi, centaurs, and wolf-men indiscriminately with Riptide, channeling all of his frustration and anger into his movements. At his side, Annabeth fought like an angry viper with her wicked Drakon bone knife. He had to give her credit; knives weren’t the easiest weapon to wield against a multitude of enemies like this, but she was taking them out nearly as quickly as Percy was. As he watched her, Percy privately vowed never to end up on the other end of that knife. 

Around them, the other demigods were steadily pushing back against Gaea’s army. Apollo’s archers shot volley after volley into the swarm of enemies, and the Ares campers, led by a glowing and screaming Clarisse, were a force to be reckoned with. Some held swords while others held spears, but they fought so fiercely Percy wasn’t sure they even needed weapons. The murderous glares in their eyes were doing a pretty good job as it was. 

In front of him, a wild centaur charged, pointing his spear at Percy’s chest. Percy didn’t think as he tucked into a roll and quickly came up on the other side of the monster and stabbed Riptide into his back. He pulled the blade out and promptly slashed at a particularly ugly Ogre yelling, “Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” 

Then, he and Annabeth turned toward a small group of Cyclops that were beginning to bare down upon a few of the Hermes kids, and Percy had to swallow back some bile. He hated fighting enemy Cyclops. They reminded him too much alternately of his half-brother, Tyson, and Polyphemus, the Cyclops who had tried to marry then eat his best friend Grover, a few years back. 

He felt, rather than saw, Annabeth tense slightly and her mouth harden into a scowl. 

He gathered his nerve and shouted, “HEY, Ugly! You like the taste of Celestial bronze? Well come and get it!” and he charged toward the nearest one. 

He dodged quickly as the giant tried to make a grab for him, and then stabbed Riptide into his leg. The Cyclops bellowed in pain, but didn’t hesitate in his efforts to smash Percy. The son of Poseidon dashed around in an odd of sort of jig, trying to find a good opening to kill the monster when he had a sudden, crazy idea. If they could somehow hit the giant right in the eye… but there was no way he could reach that high with just his sword. 

Then it came to him. 

He looked over at Annabeth as he continued sparring with the giant. 

“Annabeth!” he yelled, “do you think you could throw that knife?” 

She hesitated for moment, but she looked like she understood what Percy was hinting at. She didn’t look happy, but she gave him a small curt nod. 

“Use your hat!” Percy said. “I’ll keep him distracted!” 

Annabeth nodded again and pulled her magic Yankees cap out of her pocket. Percy renewed his efforts with the Cyclops. 

“Hey pebble brain, where’d you get that loincloth, Ugly Monsters R Us?” 

He moved between the Cyclops’ legs as he talked, trying to confuse him. The monster roared something that probably meant _I WILL EAT YOU_ , but to Percy it just sounded like “RAAARRR!” 

Percy kept jabbing him with Riptide, trying to give Annabeth the perfect opportunity. He heard her say “ _now!_ ” somewhere close by, quiet enough so that only he could hear, and he stabbed the giant in the knee one more time. Then, he allowed himself to be pushed to the ground at the Clyclops’ feet and he hesitated to get up. He desperately hoped Annabeth was actually ready because at any second, the giant would realize Percy hadn’t moved and would either smash him into a pancake or get hit with Annabeth’s knife and dissolve into dust. Percy hoped it would be the latter. 

Sure enough, the Cyclops suddenly looked down at Percy, his one eye widening with surprise and glee. He started to say something, but then a white blur whizzed over Percy’s head, and with a sickening _thump_ , embedded itself in the giant’s eye. The monster barely had time to be surprised before he disintegrated, covering Percy with foul-smelling dust. Annabeth materialized out of thin air and rushed over to make sure Percy was ok. He grinned at her as she helped him up. 

“Nice job, Wise Girl,” he said. “I was worried you’d have to scrape me off the ground there for a second.” 

Annabeth just rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on Seaweed Brain, there are more monsters to fight.” 

Percy couldn’t argue with that. He and Annabeth quickly charged back into the nearest fray, slashing and hacking at monsters. Above them, the sky had turned the color of ink soup as a massive storm encompassed the valley. It was hard to tell, but Percy thought he could make out glimpses here and there of Festus’ gold body, with what looked like a ball of pure fire on his back, and Jason and Piper flying around, dodging debris midair. Percy figured the fireball was Leo, and between the three of them, they seemed to be containing Gaea pretty well. The ground had certainly stopped moving like molten lava, anyway. Percy took that to mean they were handling it, and he turned his attention back to the monsters at hand.


	6. Nico

Nico reached Connor Stoll just as he was about to be overwhelmed. Somehow, he had gotten himself cornered by a flock of about 15 wolf-headed men and wild centaurs. Nico was surprised that Travis wasn’t nearby helping him; usually, the Stolls were always together. Nico figured the other brother had just gotten caught up in the fighting and swept away to a different part of the battle. Nico quickly assessed the situation, and decided a diversion would probably be the best course of action to keep Connor from getting eaten.

When he got close enough, Nico screamed at the flock in a taunting voice, “OI, monsters! You ever felt the bite of Stygian iron?” 

He was immensely grateful that his voice sounded a lot more confident than he actually felt. Then his heart hammered as he realized his diversion had worked quite well; the group turned away from Connor and faced Nico, fangs bared and spear points raised. Nico stood there for a moment. He hadn’t really thought through what he would do once he _did_ distract the monsters. His heart seemed to be stuck in his throat. 

Then he shook himself mentally. This was no time to freeze up. He held out his hand and the ground split open at his feet. At least half of the group of monsters fell into the crack and were swallowed by the earth, and an army of skeletons emerged to chase the other half. That bought Nico enough time to check on Connor. He looked a little shaken, but he was unhurt. 

“Th-thanks for saving me,” he said to Nico. “That was really cool how you made the ground open up.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Nico said. “Just be careful that you don’t get cornered like that again.” 

“Oh, don’t worry it won’t happen again,” he said. Then he snatched up his sword from the ground, and turned to go help some of the other campers. 

Nico took advantage of the momentary lack of monsters to look around the battlefield. Some of his adrenaline was starting to wear off, and he was beginning to feel a little tired. He tried not to focus on it though. There was still a battle to be won. In the sky, Nico saw Leo’s giant bronze dragon, Festus, holding a very angry Gaea tight in his grip, and Nico could just barely make out Jason, with Piper hanging on tight to him, flying here and there around the goddess, while a massive storm enveloped all of them. He wasn’t really sure where Festus had come from, as he had thought the dragon had been damaged beyond repair some months prior, but he didn’t really question it too much. Leo was a genius when it came to machines, and Festus was his pride and joy. If anyone could resurrect the giant fire-breathing monstrosity, it was Leo. 

As for the Jason and Piper, Nico couldn’t really tell what they were doing, aside from the storm that he was sure was Jason’s doing, but Gaea didn’t seem to be overwhelming them yet, nonetheless. Nico took that to mean his friends had it under control. 

He glanced toward the medical tent, and saw Will fighting not too far from it. He was picking off monsters with his bow like a master sniper. Gods he was hot, Nico thought. Then he smacked himself mentally. This was _definitely_ no time to be salivating over his boyfriend. He made himself focus. He noticed that Will was starting to get a little overwhelmed by the monsters. He was picking them off at a good rate, but more and more just kept coming. 

Without really thinking about it, Nico made his way slowly over to him, slashing down monsters as he went, until the two were fighting almost side-by-side. Will had shouldered his bow, now, and was jabbing at the monsters with a long bronze knife he used only in close quarter battles. Nico focused his attention on the enemy army, and went to work gutting monsters at random and turning them to dust. He and Will made a pretty good team, and soon, the monster crowd around them had thinned out to just a few wolf-headed men. They snarled at the two demigods, but after a few flashes of Stygian iron and celestial bronze, they were nothing but dust. 

Will turned to Nico and smiled at him, his blue eyes bright from exertion. “Thanks for coming over,” he said. “I had them for a while, but they just kept coming.” 

“No problem,” Nico replied, smiling back at Will. 

It was so easy to be around him. Nico momentarily forgot that they were in the midst of a battle and wished, briefly, that he could reach up and kiss Will. He had already taken a few steps toward him and put his hand on the boy’s cheek when he heard a deep, taunting voice laughing behind him. He spun around to see a sizable group of Cyclopes leering at him and Will. 

“Well, well,” one of them said, smirking at the others. His one big eye in the middle of his face was a scum-colored, muddy, greenish brown, and his pointed yellow teeth were showing in his ugly mouth. He hefted a bow at his shoulder, but he also had a sword in his meaty hand. It seemed like overkill to Nico; either one could certainly dispatch demigod fighters just fine on their own. 

“Looks like we found ourselves a pair of lover-boys,” the cyclops leered, “Excellent. demigods always taste better when they’re watching their loved ones die.” 

Intense hatred boiled inside Nico. He wasn’t about to let these ugly, leering idiots get close enough to taste him or Will, especially not after calling them “lover-boys”. Will pulled his bow off his shoulder and nocked an arrow. Nico quickly dove toward the cyclops’ legs just as Will’s arrow caught the giant in the eye. He howled in pain, but he wasn’t dead yet. Nico darted in between the legs of the brutes as he thrust and sliced his sword at various parts of them, never staying in one place for more than second or two. That was his biggest advantage in battle; he was small and thin, which made him very quick and light on his feet. Against big lumbering oafs like Cyclopes, he could usually move in between them pretty effectively. 

Will was dancing around, dodging arrows that some of them were shooting at him, and trying to keep volleying his own. He hit his target often; a number of the creatures had already gone down into a puff of smoke, but others were just howling in rage and pain as Will’s arrows stuck in their eyes or skin, but didn’t kill them. Finally, Nico and Will thinned the group down to just one, who was, by far, the meanest and ugliest of the lot. He was brandishing a massive, wickedly curved bow, and a knife the size of Nico’s forearm glinted in the waist band of his grimy, tattered loin cloth. Nico was dashing around his legs, stabbing him as many times as he could, and Will was sending arrow after arrow at him. That only seemed to be making him angrier, though. The monster just kept swatting away Will’s arrows in midair and cackling maniacally. He was surprisingly nimble for as big as he was, and Nico had to keep jumping out of the way so he wouldn’t get smashed into the ground by the monster’s foot or fist. 

He and Will kept fighting, trying to find a foothold that would allow them to kill the Cyclops, when suddenly, out of nowhere, the monster stopped abruptly. He seemed to be staring at something just behind the two demigods. Nico was so surprised by the sudden halt of movement that he lost his balance and fell to the ground, hitting his head hard enough to make dark spots appear in his vision. One of Will’s arrows sparked harmlessly off the cyclops’ breastplate, but Will himself seemed just as bewildered as Nico by the sudden inaction, and he paused too. There was look of baffled curiosity in his blue eyes. 

“Well, well, look what we have here,” the Cyclops boomed. 

He had an odd, evil gleam in his eye that made Nico’s stomach feel like it was filled with ice shards, and the monster was leering worse than ever. Trying to shake the spots out of his eyes, Nico slowly turned toward what the Cyclops had focused on. What he saw nearly made his heart stop. There, standing just a few feet from them, was the very young satyr Nico had seen arguing with Coach Hedge earlier. He was holding a sharpened stick like a sword, and was glaring defiantly at the monster. Nico wanted to scream at him to go back over the boundary line, but his voice stuck in his throat. Why was the satyr here, in the thick of the battle? How had he gotten out of the Big House? 

“A baby satyr!” the Cyclops interrupted Nico’s thoughts, bellowing delightedly and clapping his massive hands. 

“Oh, how delicious! I haven’t had veal in such a long time!” he exclaimed. 

Somewhere in the back of Nico’s mind, he wondered why the giant had said ‘veal’. That word was usually used for baby cows, not goats. Nico figured the Cyclops’ brain probably just wasn’t big enough to process subtle distinctions like that. 

“You leave us alone, you big ugly meanie!” the satyr screamed in a high-pitched voice. He looked confident, but Nico wasn’t sure if that was from courage, or just plain foolishness. 

Will recovered his shock first. 

“What are you doing?” he yelled at the boy, “Get back into the camp! You shouldn’t be here!” 

The tiny satyr looked hurt. Clearly, he had found some clever way to sneak out of the camp and join the battle, but it was not going exactly as he’d planned. “I, I came to help fight!” the kid stammered slightly, apparently caught off guard by the question. He turned back to the cyclops after a moment, and furrowed his brow. “I came to help protect the camp!” he said. He hefted his stick up like he planned on fighting the cyclops single-handedly. 

“Get back to the Big House!” Will yelled desperately again. He was already pulling an arrow from his back and preparing to aim at the monster. “You’ll get yourself killed!” 

A second after he said it, the cyclops’ fist shot out like a flash of lightning, and caught Will off guard. The son of Apollo was knocked off his feet, and he laid, sprawled in a heap, in the grass a few feet away. 

“Will!” Nico gasped indignantly. 

He had half a mind to run over to him, to make sure he was all right, but he realized that that would leave the young satyr completely unprotected. He hesitated for a minute, not sure exactly what to do. Nico heard Will groaning from where he lay, and he took that to mean his boyfriend would be ok. He stole his nerve and turned back to the cyclops. He raised his sword as he got up, about to strike the giant, but he realized with another wave of sudden shock and horror that the monster had already nocked an arrow in his bow and was about to shoot the young satyr. 

He seemed to have forgotten about Nico, despite his terrified shriek a moment ago. He was too focused on the kid in front of him, no doubt imagining the ways he might cook and eat him. They cyclops’ evil smile was showing all of his crooked teeth, and the maniac gleam in his eye was making Nico feel like he had just swallowed a tub of live worms. The poor young satyr had been just staring in shock at the monster since he had hit Will. 

“He’s right,” the cyclops said to the kid. Then, in an uncanny imitation of Will’s voice, he said, “You’ll get yourself killed,” and he let the arrow fly. 

The satyr boy was frozen where he stood, showing no signs of being able to duck or dodge out of the way. Without thinking, Nico dove in front of him just as the arrow was about to hit him. It sliced through Nico’s armor like it was cotton and buried itself in his gut. Pain shot through him as he started to fall, making his vision go foggy. Everything suddenly seemed to move in slow motion. 

Seemingly from far away, he heard Will scream “NOO!” 

Nico saw that he had apparently gotten over his momentary incapacitation, and he shot about five arrows at the cyclops’ face before the brute could realize what happened. He burst into dust as Will made a dive toward Nico, catching him roughly just before he hit the ground. The last things Nico was aware of before he blacked out were Will’s concerned blue eyes above him, and the warmth of his skin on Nico’s as he held him.


	7. Percy

Percy looked up just in time to see a massive lightning bolt shoot toward the figure of Gaea in the sky above him. He couldn’t see Jason’s face from where he was, but he was sure the son of Jupiter must be starting to wear out by now. He couldn’t imagine how much energy it was costing him to keep up this storm, fly around with Piper, _and_ dodge deadly, flying dirt clods all at once. Percy himself was already feeling a little tired from so much fighting, and he figured Jason had to be too.

As far as he could tell, most of Gaea was still locked in Festus’ claws, and the parts of her that kept turning into sand or soil were being swept up by the crowd of venti Jason had summoned around them. The sky above the valley was still an inky blue-black from the storm, and forks of lightning shot across it every now and again. Leo was still in his literal human fireball form, and was absolutely dousing Gaea with flames every chance he got. Percy wasn’t really sure how the kid was managing to stay on Festus’ back, but he seemed to be doing all right. 

On the ground, the demigod army was slowly making headway against Gaea’s minions. For the most part, the Greeks and Romans stayed on separate sides of the battlefield, though many of them fought together in the center. On the Roman side, Reyna was flying around on the back of Guido, one of Blackjack’s Pegasi buddies, while Frank led troops on the ground. The Roman legion reminded Percy of a robot as they fought; it seemed less like they were individual fighters and more like the cogs of one giant machine. 

The Greeks, on the other hand, were pretty much the opposite. They helped each other whenever someone needed it, but for the most part, they fought separately. Percy saw pockets of familiar faces here and there, all set in determined expressions as they concentrated on the fighting. Over by the medical tent, Percy saw Nico and Will next to a particularly ugly cyclops. He hoped they were getting on ok, but he didn’t have time to focus on them for long. 

Percy made a point to stick close to Annabeth for the entirety of the battle. After all they’d been through, there was no way he was going to let her get taken down by any of these idiots Gaea saved to attack the camp. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; He knew Annabeth was an excellent fighter, and he didn’t doubt her skill at all. She had even faced her mother’s chief millennia-long enemy completely alone back in Rome. It was just that after all of craziness and trauma from their trip to Tartarus, fight with the giants, and all of the other things that had happened to them on the Argo II, Percy would be damned if he ever stopped trying to protect her. 

And it was probably a good thing that Annabeth felt the same way. Her voice shouting, “Percy look out!” suddenly snapped the son of Poseidon out of his thoughts just in time for him to duck out of the way of a particularly pointy looking centaur’s spear. He tucked into a roll and Annabeth stabbed the centaur in the chest with her knife. 

“Thanks,” he said to her after the monster had turned to dust. 

“Don’t mention it,” Annabeth replied. 

Unfortunately they didn’t have much time to say anything else because a group of cynocephali marched right over to take the centaur’s place. Percy raised Riptide and began slashing at them, but he noticed that a few them had suddenly become entangled in thick green vines. The vines kept tightening until the monsters exploded into dust, and Katie Gardner and a few of her siblings emerged looking fierce and determined. 

“Good one,” Percy nodded to her as he fought. 

“Thanks!” she said back with a smile, and then she quickly turned her attention back to the monsters. 

Just then, a ripple seemed to go over the battlefield, seeming to spread a moment of confusion over both the monsters and some of the demigods. Percy glanced up at Jason, Piper and Leo in the sky and saw that Gaea’s body seemed to have gone limp in Festus’ grasp. Leo burned about as bright as the sun as he doused the goddess in pure, white hot flame. Jason summoned the largest, brightest, most definitely deadly lightning bolt Percy had ever seen, and then promptly began falling out of the sky, with Piper still holding on to him. 

“Jason!” Percy yelled in alarm. 

If he kept falling like that he would surely splatter all over the ground, with Piper thrown in the mix too. Fortunately, Reyna seemed to have witnessed the incident as well, and quickly swooped in on Guido and caught the two demigods. She soared a few yards safely away and then began to descend toward the ground. 

Once he was sure they’d be ok, Percy turned his attention back to Gaea. Or, what used to be Gaea, anyway. Apparently Jason’s last lightning bolt and Leo’s firepower had finally done the trick, because there didn’t seem to be anything left of the evil goddess. Percy stared in shock for moment as Leo’s ecstatic, gloating whoops filled his ears and Festus began a downward descent. It was hard to believe the battle was over, just like that. Then Percy’s brain caught up with him. 

“Yeah baby! That’s what I’m taking about! Teach you to mess with us, Princess Dirt Face!” he yelled as he wrapped Annabeth into a fierce hug. 

“Percy!” she squeaked, trying to shake herself loose, “the battle isn’t over yet!” 

“Wh— oh!” Percy said as the butt of a spear suddenly slammed into his chest and sent him sprawling into the grass. 

Percy had expected the monster army to turn tail and flee as soon as their mommy/patron was gone, but that didn’t seem to be the case. He quickly dodged as the spear stabbed down toward him again, and he pushed himself back up to his feet. He stabbed Riptide briskly into the flank of the enemy centaur and then surveyed the battlefield. Indeed, Percy realized he had been only half-right. A fairly good sized portion of the monster army _had_ retreated and was quickly leaving the battlefield. Unfortunately that still left plenty that were still fighting against the demigods, though. Percy gritted his teeth. 

“Come on,” he said to Annabeth, who had just finished taking out one of the wolf-headed men. “Maybe if we kill enough the rest will leave too.” 

Annabeth nodded and they both turned their focus to the nearest group of enemies.


	8. Will

“Nico, oh Nico!” Will said as he cradled the son of Hades in his arms. When he had seen the cyclops’ arrow pierce the boy’s body, the ominous feeling of foreboding he had been carrying in his chest since before the battle, had seemed to explode into a throbbing pain that was a million times worse. Dimly, his senses registered that the battle was almost over. He didn’t hear Gaea’s voice anymore, though that didn’t necessarily mean she had been completely defeated. The satyr boy Nico had just saved, was scrambling quickly back toward the camp, presumably going to get help.

Will only had eyes for Nico though. It seemed that in this small, dismal corner of the battlefield, everything in the world ceased to exist, save for Will and the beautiful, wounded son of Hades in his arms. Will didn’t pause long enough to figure out why, but thankfully, the monsters seemed to be ignoring them now, too. The feeling in Will’s chest was still throbbing painfully. It seemed to be telling him something, but he desperately tried to ignore it. He laid Nico down carefully in the grass, then removed they boy’s breast plate and cut away his shirt so that he could examine the wound. 

It was bad. It was very bad. Will could tell that simply from the first glance at it. The giant’s arrow was embedded so far into Nico’s abdomen, the tip of it was poking out of the pale skin of the boy’s back. The faint, bitter smell coming from the wound told the medic in Will that the arrow had been coated in poison. Will debated for a short second about pulling the arrow out, but he decided against it. He wasn’t sure if the tip had been barbed, and with as deep as it was, he could easily cause more problems for Nico if he tried pulling it out. He figured it would better to leave it in, at least until he could get Nico back inside the boundaries of the camp, and into the medical tent. He was going to have to stop the bleeding before he could move the boy anywhere, though. Then he could call for help or try to carry him himself. _If_ Nico lived that long. 

_No_ , Will thought, shaking his head to banish the thought. _He’ll make it_ , he promised himself. He put his hands gently around the wounded area, trying with all his might to concentrate all of his healing power into it. Unfortunately, Nico’s body didn’t seem to be responding. The throbbing in Will’s chest felt like it was slowly sucking all of the happiness out him, making it seem like the steady growing weight of hopelessness and despair might overwhelm him at any moment. He struggled, desperately, to stay focused. 

Silently, Will prayed to his father, Apollo, for help and guidance. He was trying very hard to ignore the little voice in the back of mind telling him there would be nothing he could do to fix this. He had to believe Nico would be ok. He had to. He was head medic of all of Camp Half-Blood for goodness sake, and he’d be damned if he was just going to let his boyfriend die. 

He yanked the small first aid kit he always carried off of his belt, and hurriedly pulled out the proper supplies to clean the wound, cursing silently that he hadn’t stocked it with ambrosia. He worked feverishly for a few minutes while Nico laid in the grass, groaning softly as he came back into consciousness. Will tried frantically to stop the flow of blood from the wound, but it didn’t seem to do any good. The thick, crimson liquid was steadily coursing out of Nico’s body, and his face was growing paler by the minute. It seemed that if the poison didn’t kill him first, he was surely going bleed out. Will felt a very painful bit of indecision then; if he didn’t go get help from some of the other healers, like now, he might lose Nico. If he left Nico there, with nothing and no one to help him, he might lose him also. Will bit his lip and closed his eyes for a second. 

_No, no, no!_ he thought desperately. _This cannot be happening_. It just wasn’t fair. He couldn’t just leave the boy alone, in the middle of the battlefield, and he was doing absolutely everything he could think of to heal the dying demigod in front of him, but he might as well have been twiddling his thumbs for all the good it was doing. Tears were coursing down his cheeks as he shook his head to clear it and set back to work, but he barely noticed them. 

_Please, Father_ , he prayed fiercely. _Please don’t let him die. I won’t ever ask you for anything ever again, just please, please don’t let him die_. 

Will closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate. The paler Nico became, the more the feeling in his chest seemed to be fading too, and along with it, all of Will’s happiness, and the love he had felt for the boy in his arms.


	9. Nico

Nico laid half-dazed as Will worked over him. At some point, he had come back into consciousness, though he was still very weak and disoriented. Everything looked a little hazy around the edges, and the passage time was almost a foreign concept to him. He knew somewhere around them the battle was still going on, but he could only concentrate on Will’s hands, flying around feverishly, trying to mend Nico’s wound.

On the inside, Nico knew it was no good. Whatever poison had been on that arrow was very effective. He could feel it already coursing in his veins, slowly crawling toward his heart. The entrance wound in his belly throbbed painfully, and a wetness on the skin around it told him he must be bleeding out slowly, but steadily. It was almost funny, in a cruel, horribly ironic kind of way; he had watched so many monsters and enemies die, always sensing when their souls went to the underworld, he hadn’t realized he would be able to sense his own death so clearly. He could feel his life force slowly fading, as if it were a tangible thing, and in spite of Will’s desperate attempts to pull him back toward life. Will’s face was streaked with tears, and there was an agony burning in his ice blue eyes as he worked. 

“Will,” Nico croaked softly. His voice sounded horribly weak, even to him. He tried to touch Will’s arm with his hand, but it was shaking so badly he couldn’t quite do it. 

“Shhh, it’s ok. I’m going to fix this,” Will said, brushing a few sweaty locks of hair out of Nico’s face. The desperation and torture in his voice made Nico’s heart ache. It was almost more painful than the poison. 

“Will,” Nico said again in his ragged whisper. “I'm so sorry.” Each breath was costing him a great deal. Will’s blue eyes widened in surprise and confusion at Nico’s statement. 

He paused, slightly, in his frantic efforts to heal him, and turned his eyes to Nico’s. His expression was one of total incomprehension. 

“You're sorry?” he said softly, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What could you possibly have to be sorry for?” Aside from the pain in his eyes, he looked utterly bewildered. 

“I'm sorry I broke my promise,” Nico croaked. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t just let the kid die. I had to do something.” 

He felt like he had to explain himself. He didn’t want Will to be mad at him, even though he had promised nothing would happen to him. In the back of his mind, Nico knew the battle around them must be coming to a close, but as far as he could see, nothing existed but him and Will. 

Will's eyes softened as understanding finally dawned on him, and tears started spilling over his cheeks again. 

“Oh, gods Nico, no. No, no, no,” Will said. “I don’t blame you in the slightest. You were so brave…” he choked off and didn’t seem able to continue. 

Then he shook his head like he was trying to clear it and said fiercely, “But I am NOT going to let you die.” He wiped his face furiously, and set back to work over Nico’s body. 

“Will,” Nico croaked again after a few minutes. This was doing no good. Nico was already fading. Will would work himself to death trying to save him. 

“You are not going to die, Nico, do you hear me? You are not!” Will said. 

His voice shook as he said it. Nico realized that Will must have been able to sense that his efforts were in vain too, but he was stubbornly choosing not to believe it. 

“Will,” Nico tried to plead a little more insistently. 

“No! No, no, no!” Will cried. 

“Will!” Nico finally said as loud as he could. 

It still hadn’t come out as much more than a hoarse croak, but it had taken nearly all of his remaining strength. He fought, hard, to stay conscious. He was so close now. He could feel it. 

“You’ve got to stop,” Nico whispered hoarsely. “I’m going Will. You’ve got to let me go.” 

The son of Apollo sagged, and he began to weep in earnest over Nico. It seemed that he was finally accepting the futility of his efforts to heal him. The agony emanating from the boy was almost too much to take. 

“I can’t Nico… I just, can’t,” he said. 

His shoulders were shaking as he cried and his head slumped over Nico’s chest. Nico felt tears of his own spilling down his cheeks. He was somewhat surprised he even had the strength left to cry. 

“Will,” Nico said, softly. His strength was going. He wanted to touch Will’s cheek, but he couldn’t move his hand. 

“What?” Will asked, looking up at him. His sadness made his eyes look like endless blue oceans, deep and dark, trapped in the sockets of his face. 

“Promise...” Nico coughed, tasting blood in his mouth. 

"Promise me..." he said. 

As Will's eyes searched his, Nico could tell he was still clinging to some far-fetched hope that Nico would somehow make it. He hated that he had to leave him like this. It really wasn’t fair. 

"Anything," Will said, without hesitation. 

Despite the tears, Nico saw a small bit of eagerness flooding through the boy’s blue eyes. Nico tried to laugh, but it just turned into another wheezing cough. Here was Will, his caring boyfriend, still willing to give him whatever he asked for, even as Nico was about to leave him forever. 

Will wiped the blood from Nico’s lip carefully, and put his warm hand on Nico’s cheek. Nico was amazed, idly, that he could still feel the abnormal warmth of Will’s skin. It was one of his favorite things about the boy, and he was very glad he would get to feel it one last time. 

"Promise me, that you'll move on," Nico said. 

His last wish was giving him a small surge of strength. He knew it wouldn’t last more than a few seconds, though, so he continued as quickly as he could, "promise me you won't waste your life grieving over me. Go out, live. Be happy." 

Will put his face in his hands, and began to sob even harder than before. 

“Nico,” he said brokenly. “How can I...?” 

“Promise me,” Nico insisted. 

“I—, I'll try,” Will choked out. He raised Nico's limp hand and kissed it tenderly, tears still coursing down his cheeks. 

“Good,” Nico said softly. “Then I’ll just ask one last thing. Will you sing to me before I go?” 

Will looked like his own gut had been pierced by an arrow. For a second, Nico was worried the boy might die too, from his misery, right there alongside Nico. He didn’t want that. Will deserved to live the rest of his life. He was so young, and so gifted with his healing, it would be such a waste for him to go this early too. Slowly though, Will lifted his head and began to sing. His voice was full of sorrow, but it was still the most beautiful thing Nico had ever heard. 

_You are my sunshine,_

_My only sunshine,_

_You make me happy when skies are grey._

_You'll never know dear, how much I love you,_

_So please don't take my sunshine away._

As Will finished the last line, Nico smiled slightly and closed his eyes. He felt Will’s warm lips touch his forehead softly as his last breath left his lungs.


	10. Jason

Jason was the first to notice that something was wrong. Once he had regained consciousness after nearly falling to his death, he and Piper had joined the rest of the demigods in finally defeating the last of the monster army. Now, while everyone else was cheering and hugging each other and celebrating their victory, Jason looked around. A funny feeling was telling him that all was not well, and he gazed slowly at the other campers, trying to figure it out.

Suddenly, his eyes focused on the tall, muscular form of Will Solace some way away, with his nearly empty quiver of arrows still strapped to his back. He was hunched and shaking with sobs over something Jason couldn't see very clearly. His heart immediately jumped into his throat. At his side, Piper seemed to notice his sudden tension, and she looked at him curiously. 

“What is it?” she asked. Her beautiful smile was still lighting up her features. 

Jason couldn't speak. He stared in mute horror at Will's sobbing form, not daring to believe what he was seeing. 

Then Piper followed his gaze, and he heard her gasp sharply, "Oh gods, no!" 

Before Jason really knew what he was doing, he was running toward Will, with Piper close at his heels. They reached the boy, and Jason looked down, still not quite comprehending what was lying there. 

No, not what, _who_. 

Jason stared at the broken form of Nico di Angelo. His face was slack, and paler than anytime Jason had ever seen, which was saying something. He could have been sleeping, if it weren’t for the arrow sticking out of his gut, and the huge puddle of dark blood that had pooled around him and Will. Jason had seen blood before. It was kind of an occupational hazard of being a demigod. It usually didn't bother him too much, but this, this was something different altogether. Nico's blood was a very dark shade of crimson, and Jason was sure he had never seen quite so much of it in one place before. He wanted to cry out, or go over to Will and help him somehow, but he couldn't. He was rooted to the spot by absolute horror and shock. 

Nico di Angelo was dead. 

The kid he had come to love like the little brother he never had. The kid whom he’d helped through a tremendous personal secret when he had no one else. He was dead. 

How could Nico be dead? 

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, Jason forced himself to walk closer to Will. His body responded, though his movements were stiff. The blond healer was still kneeling over Nico’s body, clutching the boy’s limp hand and sobbing with absolute grief. 

“Will,” Jason said in a hoarse whisper. He was still having trouble believing what he was seeing. He cleared his throat a little. “Will, what, what happened?” 

The son of Apollo didn't answer at first. His shoulders were still shaking, and he hadn’t let go of Nico’s hand. Then he looked up at Jason with red eyes full of agony and tears streaking down his face. His expression was clear; he was utterly, and completely broken. 

“He, he jumped—” Will began. He had to take a few breaths before he could continue. His voice was raw and ragged, and his face was an absolute mess from crying so hard. “He jumped in front of a little satyr kid just as this cyclops shot at him, and the arrow went through his armor. I, I tried everything I could, Jason, I really did. I sang to him, I prayed to my dad and all the gods on Olympus, I tried to use my magic, but I just... I just couldn't… the poison was too much, and oh! Oh gods, he’s gone.” The words had come out in one long rush, and at the end, the boy collapsed back into sobs and fell over his boyfriend’s still body. 

Another wave of grief and shock washed over Jason as Will’s words pierced his heart. Nico had died to save a satyr kid. He jumped in front of a poisoned arrow so that the kid could live. It was exactly the kind of heroic, stupid thing Nico would do. Jason felt tears of his own welling up in his eyes, and Piper buried her face in his shoulder as she cried too. He wrapped his arm around her, and wiped his face with his other hand. It wasn’t doing much good, though. The tears just kept flowing. 

By then, almost all of the other demigods had gathered around Will and Nico too. Most of them seemed to have heard Will’s explanation. Percy stood a little to Jason's right, with his mouth hanging slightly open, and a look of utter disbelief on his face. Annabeth was next to him, looking like she had just encountered Medusa. When Will had mentioned that Nico was killed by a cyclops, her light colored eyebrows had raised for a second, and then her features had quickly hardened into a scowl. He thought he had also heard Thalia gasp quietly from where she stood with her hunters. Now, Annabeth stood stock still, her grey eyes stony and impassive. Jason could tell that if she did tried to do anything but stand there like a stone, she'd probably break down into sobs as bad as Piper’s. 

Leo, apparently, was one of the few demigods who hadn't gathered around immediately. He came sauntering over after a minute, his impish face smudged with dirt and a broad smile spread across his lips, and said, “Hey guys, what's—” but he broke off abruptly. The smile melted off his face when he saw Nico, and he clapped his hand over his mouth. 

“Is that...? That's not...? He’s not…?” he spluttered almost unintelligibly. “Oh, gods.” 

For once, Leo seemed completely speechless, and there was absolutely no trace of humor in his dark eyes. 

As soon as Hazel and Reyna had realized something was wrong, they had both run over and immediately kneeled next to Nico’s body, with Hazel cradling the boy’s head in her lap and Reyna clutching at the hand Will wasn’t holding. Both of them were sobbing almost as badly as the son of Apollo. Jason didn't blame either of them in the slightest; if this was Thalia, his own sibling, lying cold and still and broken like that, Jason wasn't sure he would even be able to handle it as well as they were. That thought broke his heart even more. Frank stood close at Hazel’s side, gazing at the deceased son of Hades with an expression of dumbfounded horror. 

Suddenly, Percy seemed to have finally gotten over his initial shock, and he collapsed to his knees with tears streaming from his sea green eyes. Annabeth half caught him before he hit the ground, and he turned and wept into her shoulder, deploring almost unintelligibly about how he had "failed them both". Jason wasn't entirely who he was talking about, apart from Nico, but the son of Poseidon seemed deeply disturbed by it. At that point, Annabeth seemed to be breaking down too, and she laid her head on Percy’s shoulder as she held him, tears of her own shining on her face. 

Even Chiron seemed to be upset. Jason was sure the old teacher had seen thousands of heroes die, and yet, he looked as shaken as any of the rest of them. He stood a little way away with his face in his hands. The rest of the camp had seemed to gather around, too, either crying with each other or staring in shock and disbelief. After a little while, Jason heard Will taking a few shuddering breaths. Then the boy got to his feet, pulling his bow from the ground where it had lain. His face was still a ragged mess, but he had a hard look of determination shining in his ice blue eyes. 

"Ar-archers of Apollo," he called. Jason could tell he was working hard to keep his voice under control. "As your head counselor, I demand a hero's salute for this boy." 

He glared around at them all, as if daring any one of them to oppose him. No one did. Nico had died a hero and it was only fitting that he get the proper respect. 

"Hunters of Artemis!" Thalia suddenly piped up. "We will join in this salute for our fallen brother." 

Jason felt his eyebrows arching in surprise. A salute from the Apollo cabin Jason had more or less expected, but for the Hunters to join in for a _male_ hero? That was a very big deal. Thalia had even called him ‘brother’; they didn’t show that sort of respect for just anyone. 

Will just nodded gratefully, but didn’t say anything. He seemed to still be trying to stay in control of himself. All of the Apollo campers lined up beside Will and the Hunters did the same on the opposite side beside Thalia. Thalia looked at Will, as if trying to determine which of them would lead this. Jason was sure that if Will had been in any other state, it wouldn’t have been a question, since he had been the one to suggest the salute. But as it was, Thalia seemed to sense that the boy might not have the stability to do it. Will gave her a tiny, curt nod, and she returned it with a small, sad smile. 

"Ready?" she called to both groups. Each of them nocked an arrow simultaneously with a precision that reminded Jason idly of synchronized swimmers. 

"Aim!" Thalia cried. Every bow rose and pointed in the air. Thalia looked at Will for one more second. His eyes were trained up, but he had finally seemed unable to keep the tears from flowing again. His bow seemed steady enough in his hands, though. 

"Fire!" Thalia called. The first volley of arrows flew into the air. Every shooter had automatically reloaded in a matter of seconds after they released the first. 

"Fire!" Thalia cried again. The second volley flew up. 

"Fire!" The third. 

"Fire!" The fourth. 

They kept going like that until they had shot a total of seven volleys. When they were done, Will sagged where he stood, dropping his bow. Two of his half siblings caught him quickly, and they half-walked, half-dragged him back toward the camp. Everyone else was slowly making their way there, too. 

When Chiron picked up Nico’s limp body, Jason saw all of the blood quickly soak into the ground, and a small sprout of a tree poking up where he had lain. There was a pile of gems arranged neatly around it, and somehow, Jason seemed to know that it was a pomegranate tree. _Hades_ he thought. Jason guessed it wasn’t very often that a child of his was given such respect after death. It seemed that in return, the god of the dead had blessed the camp, much like Zeus had done for Thalia when he turned her into the pine that topped Half-Blood Hill. 

Jason still felt a little stunned. How in world had this happened?


	11. Jason

Over the course of the next two days, everyone worked meticulously to prepare for Nico’s funeral. Will had absolutely insisted on making Nico’s burial shroud himself, and he only relented to let Hazel help. Even then, Jason was sure he’d only _really_ let her because she had insisted she had a right to, as Nico’s sister. The two of them stayed locked away in the arts and crafts building for most of the hours of the day, working feverishly to finish the shroud as soon as possible.

Jason was thankful Hazel had been so persistent in making Will accept her help. He was very worried about how Will was taking this whole thing, and he was glad that the boy had someone with him during the day, at least while he was in the arts and crafts building. Whenever he wasn’t working on the shroud, the son of Apollo was always notably absent from mealtimes and gatherings. He hardly spoke or looked at anyone, and his eyes stayed red and puffy almost perpetually. Jason wanted to help him, but he wasn’t sure what to do. 

Finally, after a day and half, the shroud was finished and the camp held the funeral. Nico’s body lay wrapped in the rippling black cloth atop the funeral pyre in the dining pavilion. Will and Hazel had done a truly incredible job with it. The whole cloth seemed to be woven straight out of shadow, and a slim, elegant pomegranate tree sparkled in the middle of it. The fruit seemed to be made with actual rubies. It was, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing Jason had ever seen. Will had declined a speech, as he was still too aggrieved to do much more than weep uncontrollably into his hands. Hazel spoke for a minute about how much Nico had meant to her, and how wonderful it had been to discover him as a brother, but she too, ended up having to stop for weeping too hard. 

Percy stood up, then, and lamented sorrowfully that he hadn’t been able to save Nico, or his sister Bianca a few years ago, and he begged that they might forgive him, though he didn’t really expect either of them to. Jason realized that Bianca must have been the other person he was talking about two days ago, and he wondered, briefly, what had happened to her. 

After that, Jason himself had went up and made a short speech on how he had come to love Nico like a brother, and how he was so sorry that his time had come so early. When he couldn’t continue, he simply went, and sat back down next to Piper. She held his hand and gently squeezed his fingers in a reassuring kind of way, though she had tears streaming down her face, too. He was grateful to have Piper there. He was sure all of this would be a million times more difficult to handle without her. He couldn’t imagine what Will must be going through, losing someone he loved liked that. He didn’t think he would have been able to bear it. 

Eventually, after everyone was done sharing their piece, Chiron walked over with the lit torch and set the pyre ablaze. Nico had died a hero, after all, and it was only fitting that he receive a proper hero’s funeral. Jason watched the fire as he wept unabashedly; everyone around him seemed just as desolate as he felt. After a little bit, Jason noticed Will get up and leave the pavilion, but he didn’t think about stopping him. He was sure Will needed some time alone after the emotion from the funeral. He resolved himself to checking on him later. He turned to Piper and hugged her, hoping that he would never have to go through the pain of losing her like this. As she hugged him back, Jason thought he could sense that she was thinking the same thing.


	12. Will

Will wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep now. The sky outside was dark, but he had been paying so little attention to the passage of time lately, that he felt that there was an equal chance of it being evening or early morning. He still hadn’t decided which was worse: sleeping or waking. When he was awake, the terrible, desolate emptiness inside him made him feel like he was sleep walking, if sleep walking also meant a horrible burning achiness that was so painful it made him want to pass out, that is. His chest constantly felt like someone had literally carved a hole into it, leaving the edges bloody and ragged, and feeling as if it’d never mend. The feeling had settled in him from the moment Nico had taken his last breath. All of the happiness and love and positive emotion Will had ever felt in his life seemed to be simply gone. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to feel such things again.

When he was asleep, he wavered in and out of real sleep, and terrible, terrible nightmares in which he relived Nico’s death over and over and over again. He saw Nico’s beautiful dark eyes looking at him out his pale face. He saw the bloody arrow wound in Nico’s belly that he had desperately tried but wasn’t able to fix. He heard Nico’s ragged voice asking him to promise to move on. He heard his own voice singing, as Nico’s pale eyelids slowly closed. He watched, every night, helplessly, as the boy he had loved took his last breath. 

There seemed to be a lot more of that than any actual, restful sleep. He had taken to sleeping in Nico’s (he couldn’t bring himself to think the word ‘old’) cabin because it was empty and dark, now that Hazel had left to go back to Camp Jupiter. She had left shortly after the funeral. Will didn’t blame her. Camp Jupiter was her home, and she deserved to be able to mourn in a place where she was comfortable. Will, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling comfortable anywhere, despite being in his home. For years, Camp Half-Blood had been his favorite place in the whole world, but now, everywhere he went and every familiar face he saw just reminded him of the beautiful dark haired boy he had lost on that fateful day of the war with Gaea, and it only made the hole in his chest ache more. 

He wasn’t sure if sleeping in Nico’s cabin was helping or hurting, but at that point, he didn’t really care. The pillows and bedding still smelled of Nico’s body, and Will would spend hours just lying there, burying his nose in them, and crying until it seemed he had no more tears left to give. He recalled his last night with Nico, together in this bed, and a fresh wave of sorrow and pain washed forcefully over him like a tidal wave. He turned, and buried his face into the pillow, weeping so hard his shoulders were shaking. He didn’t try to control it for a good few minutes. He’d learned that when the pain hit this hard, it was better just to let it out while he could. If he didn’t, it would only be worse later. 

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, he tried to calm himself down. He took a few deep, shuddering breaths, and tried to think of something that might distract him. He tried to remember when the last time he had eaten was. For the most part, he’d had next to no appetite since the funeral, and he took to skipping mealtimes in favor of being alone. He hadn’t shown up at the infirmary or even his own cabin since the funeral. He had no idea how the rest of the Apollo campers were getting along; He certainly hadn’t been keeping up with his head counselor duties, but if any of them minded it, they hadn’t brought it up to him. 

Thinking about his cabin mates, his half-siblings, made a flood of guilt slowly creep over him. He felt bad that he was neglecting all of his duties, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do anything more than hole up in the Hades cabin, wallowing in his misery. He was in no state to lead or be in charge of anyone; he was barely taking care of himself. In addition to not eating, he hadn’t really been showering for the last couple of days either. He was sure he was starting to smell, but every time he tried to make himself get up and go to the showers, the burning ragged hole in his chest pushed him right back down into the bed covers. Now and then, either Jason, Percy, Annabeth, or Piper would come by and try to check on him, but he had taken, as of late, to pretending to be asleep whenever he heard one of them approaching. 

Somewhere inside him, he knew he was being an idiot. He knew he shouldn’t shut out his friends, or neglect his own self-care and duties to the camp, but it was like his body was on autopilot and he couldn’t turn it off and take control again. He could scream at himself in his mind to get it together, or take a shower, or talk to someone, but the rest of him just wouldn’t respond. It was maddening in its own right. Then of course, he would hate himself for being so unresponsive. Nico’s dying wish had been for him to move on with his life and be happy, and here he was, wasting away in his (old) bed, not eating or showering or talking to anyone. 

But how could he? How could Nico expect him to just move on and be happy when his thoughts were still constantly full of the way the boy’s dark eyes would shine when he was excited about something, or how his smile could light up the whole room without him even trying, or the taste of his cool lips as they kissed, or the adorable, exasperated way he would call Will ‘Solace’, or the feel of the boy’s small hand in his own. How was he ever supposed to get over it when the love of his life was just gone? 

At that thought, Will started to get angry. He had done this a thousand times already. The hole in his chest and the anguish would overwhelm him, and he’d break down into sobs, then he’d feel guilty for being so sad and neglecting himself and his duties, and then he would get angry. He was angry that he was so melancholy; angry that he couldn’t make himself get over it; angry that this grief, this ragged hole, was eating away at his life; angry at his stupid father and all the infuriating, unhelpful gods for not answering his prayers; angry at that foolish, idiot satyr kid for showing up in the midst of the battle and putting himself (and consequently Nico) in harm’s way; angry that all his healing powers, all his time spent in the infirmary hadn’t mattered in the end; but most of all, most of _all_ , he was angry _at_ Nico. He was angry at Nico for making him promise to move on. He was angry that he was stuck here, grieving and raging and feeling guilty, while Nico was in Elysium. He was angry that he couldn’t get the boy off his mind, even when he slept. He was angry at Nico for promising him he’d be safe and then jumping in front of a poisoned arrow. He was angry at the stupid, beautiful, dead demigod that was his boyfriend, for leaving him, alone and in pain. 

While he thought all that, Will had been throwing things around Nico’s cabin, half destroying it, but he eventually collapsed to his knees in the middle of the floor, with his face in his hands. As usual, his anger was receding back into guilt. He was acting like a terrible two-year-old, again, and now he felt guilty for acting like a terrible two-year-old. Again. He knew, deep down, that none of this was really Nico’s fault. He had only taken that arrow so that the little satyr kid could live. That was no choice. It was exactly what Will would have done if he had been in Nico’s place. He wished, for the millionth time, that it had been him who died. _Let Nico see what’s like_ , he thought bitterly for a second. Then he hated himself for thinking it. 

Will shook his head, trying to think clearly through the merciless onslaught of emotions. He couldn’t keep doing this. This constant cycle of grief, then guilt, then anger, then back to guilt, and then more grief again. One of these days, it would surely destroy him. His heart lifted for a moment at the thought that if he died, he would get to see Nico again. Then it plunged quickly back into dejection as he realized that dying from heartache was likely not a good enough reason to go to Elysium, and he therefore would end up in the fields of Asphodel, alone and sad once again. 

Suddenly, a soft knock at the door distracted him from his arduous thoughts. It was probably just Jason or Percy coming to check on him. He considered diving back into the bed and pretending to sleep, but he figured that the fact that the lights were on would give him away. He hesitated, unsure of what to do. He didn’t really want to face his friend, and he wasn’t exactly ready to talk about what he was feeling, but he couldn’t outright refuse the boy entry, either. Not without making himself feel even guiltier, at least. The knocking was becoming a little persistent. 

Then, a female voice called, “Will, open up.”


	13. Will

Will had been wrong. It wasn’t Jason or Percy. It was Piper.

Though she had certainly come around her own fair share of times so far, Will was still surprised to hear her voice. They had more or less been friends before the battle, but Will still felt that he didn’t really know her that well. He liked the girl, in general, but he couldn’t see why she would be concerned about him enough to be the one to check on him. He didn’t see why anyone would be that concerned, for that matter. They had their own lives after all. Why did they care if Will was slowly wasting his away in his dead boyfriend’s old cabin? 

Piper continued to knock. “Come on, Will I know you’re in there,” she said, a little exasperatedly. “You can’t pretend to be asleep every time one of us comes by. You’re going to have to talk to someone eventually, and it might as well be me. Now open up!” She rapped smartly on the door again. 

Will sighed heavily and resigned himself to letting her in. He couldn’t tell if she had been using her charmspeak on him, but her mention of his feigning sleep made the guilt settle more painfully in his chest. He got up and padded over to the door, pulling it open to find a slightly surprised looking Piper, with her hand still raised mid-knock and her mouth open from what surely would have been another attempt to get Will to let her in. At the sight of him, Piper quickly closed her mouth and dropped her hand. 

“Oh,” she said. “You actually answered.” 

“Yea well,” he grumbled. His voice was gravely from emotion and disuse. “You weren’t giving me much of a choice.” He raised one eyebrow at her. “And I’m sure your charmspeak had nothing to do with it,” he added. 

It came out a little harsher than he meant it to. He could still feel the ragged hole of his grief pulsing inside him, and he fought to keep control. He didn’t want Piper to see how bad things had really gotten. He didn’t want anyone to see that. 

Piper just gave him a small smile. She didn’t deny the charmspeak allegation, but she didn’t look abashed either. “How else was I supposed to get you to open the door?” she asked. “Obviously, nothing else was working.” 

Will looked down at his feet. Piper had a fair point. He certainly _hadn’t_ opened the door for anyone else who had come by the last couple of days. Let alone actually talk to any of them. He still didn’t like admitting that she was right though. It made the guilt bubble like acid inside him. 

Piper appraised him with her multicolored eyes. She didn’t look angry or upset, just genuinely concerned. She pursed her lips slightly as she took in Will’s appearance. He was sure he didn’t look very good. His recent bout of crying had likely made his eyes red and puffy, and his lack of personal hygiene had surely turned his blond curly hair into a greasy, matted ratrat’s nest. He felt a bit thinner than normal too, due to his refusing meals. He suddenly felt a little self-conscious. 

“How are you doing, Will?” Piper suddenly asked gently. Will got the sense that she was trying to gauge his mood. 

“I— uh, I’m—” he stammered. He wanted to say ‘I’m fine’, but he was having trouble actually getting the lie out. He bit his lip and sighed. “I’m not doing very well,” he finally admitted in a small voice. 

He kept his eyes on his shoes. He could feel the tears starting to well up in the corners of his eyes again, and he fought harder to keep them from spilling over. 

“Well of course you’re not,” Piper said simply. “But I’m glad you finally admitted it.” 

She still didn’t look upset, just concerned in a caring kind of way. Her tone made it clear though that while she wasn’t angry, she wasn’t going to take any bullshit from him either. Despite himself, Will was grateful for that. As much as it pained him to tell the truth and let Piper see the ugliness that had settled about him since Nico’s death, trying to lie to his friends about it all the time had been a pain unto itself. 

“Could I come in?” Piper said asked a little hesitantly. 

“Umm…” Will stammered. “Yeah, yeah I guess,” he finished. 

He wasn’t really sure why he’d agreed. He didn’t _really_ want Piper to see the mess he had made with the furniture, and, well, himself, but something seemed to be compelling him to trust her. It might have just been her charmspeak, but Will couldn’t help noticing that Piper’s ever-changing eyes were looking at him with a sort kindness that he hadn’t expected. He was still somewhat surprised that she was here at all, and that she wasn’t angry with him. 

He sighed and opened the door the rest of the way. Then, he turned and walked back over to the bed, sitting down on one side of it. Piper followed him in, picking her way carefully through the mess of broken objects that used to be Nico’s possessions and that currently littered the floor. Her eyebrows arched slightly, but she didn’t say anything about it. She sat down on the edge of the bed too, on the opposite side of Will. Piper seemed to be waiting for him to say something. 

“I— I suppose I should apologize,” Will said after a minute, trying to break the silence. The massive weight of guilt in his chest was still very painful. “I know I’ve been pretty absent since, umm, since _it_ happened. Is everything ok in cabin 7?” 

He couldn’t bring himself to say Nico’s name, or the word ‘died’ immediately after it. Just thinking it was enough to make Will catch his breath as the ragged hole in chest burned more fiercely. He was, however, curious about his half-siblings. He hadn’t realized quite how long it’d been since he’d interacted with another person. 

“They’re fine,” Piper said. “Austin has assumed temporary head counselor status in your absence.” 

Will nodded. Austin was a good kid. He would definitely be Will’s first choice for a successor as head counselor. 

“And Kayla took over archery,” Piper added after a second, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Then she looked at him. “But really, neither of them is as good as you were. They miss you, Will. We all miss you.” 

That stung. Piper hadn’t said it in a mean sort of way, but Will felt tears building up in his eyes again, and he looked away from her. He felt like it would have been worse if she had yelled at him. Piper seemed to sense Will’s distress, and she put her hand on top of his. It felt like a very sisterly kind of gesture; Will knew that Piper would never doing anything like that in a romantic sense. She was with Jason, after all, and he himself obviously didn’t, well, swing that way. As it was, Piper’s hand was pleasantly warm and comforting. Once again, Will was struck by how much he’d been missing human touch, romantic or not. 

“I’m sorry, Piper. I really am,” Will choked out, not stopping himself from crying in earnest now. “I know I’m being stupid. It’s just... it’s just…” he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. “It’s just so hard without him,” he said miserably. 

“I know, Will, I know,” Piper said soothingly. She scooted over, and hugged him. Under any other circumstances, Will might have felt a little embarrassed, but Piper felt like the big sister he never had. He wept into her shoulder, feeling, for the first time since Nico had passed on, that he might not be so alone after all. 

“Listen,” Piper said after a few seconds, “I’m not here to berate you for being upset about Nico’s death. Honestly, I’d be more worried if you weren’t upset. But I want you to know, too, that you don’t have to deal with this alone. Jason, Annabeth, Percy and I, and your siblings, are here for you.” She paused for a minute, as if what she was about to say was difficult for her. 

“Losing Nico…” she paused again, wiping a small tear under her eye, “Losing Nico has been hard on all of us,” she continued. “He was a great kid and he didn’t deserve to go so young,” she said. “And I know you that you two made each other extremely happy, and that it was cruel, that that happiness had to be cut short,” she said, pausing. Then she continued, “But Will, you don’t have to shut us out. We want to help you. _I_ want to help you. We can make it through this together.” There was an earnestness in her voice that surprisingly comforting. 

Will didn’t say anything, but continued to sob into Piper’s shoulder. Hearing her say the things he had been thinking was somehow both more painful, and somewhat liberating. Deep down, he knew she was right; he was finally realizing that he couldn’t face this alone, and that he was an idiot for thinking he had to. Well, ok maybe Piper hadn’t exactly said that last part, but Will knew it was true. He still had friends here who cared about him, and he was going to have to start counting on them if he was ever going to be able to honor the promise he made Nico. 

Piper didn’t say anything else, and she let Will continue to pour out his emotions as she held him for what seemed like a long time, wiping small tears of her own here and there. Eventually, Will gathered himself and wiped his eyes with his hands. He looked up at Piper’s sympathetic face. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. He wanted to say more, but he wasn’t really sure what. Somehow, Piper’s visit seemed to have broken the cycle of grief he had been going through slightly, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to tell her that. 

Piper just smiled softly and patted his shoulder. 

“You’re welcome, Will,” she said simply, smiling empathetically at him. Then she stood up. 

“I’ve got to go back to my cabin before the harpies start patrol, but I’ll see you at breakfast?” she asked, holding Will’s gaze firmly. 

“I suppose,” Will sighed. 

“Good.” Piper said. 

Then she hugged him briefly again and picked her way over to the door, letting it close softly behind her. 

Will sat still for a minute thinking about what Piper had said. Then, he slowly got up and gathered some things for a shower. As he left the Hades cabin, he allowed himself to feel a very small light of hope. Maybe, just maybe, things would start to get better after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: In case you didn't know or were wondering, the title of this work is a reference to the soliloquy in act 5, scene 5 of Shakespeare's Macbeth. The full quote is thus:  
> "She should have died hereafter;  
> There would have been a time for such a word.  
> To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,  
> Creeps in this petty pace from day to day  
> To the last syllable of recorded time,  
> And all our yesterdays have lighted fools  
> The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!  
> Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player  
> That struts and frets his hour upon the stage  
> And then is heard no more: it is a tale  
> Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,  
> Signifying nothing."
> 
> That is one of my all-time favorite Shakespeare quotes, and I thought it fit this fic pretty well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and again blame StraightAsARainbow for all the angsty sadness!  
> As always, please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.


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